Peacock had 42M signups by late April, but most don't pay for service

NBC's Peacock streaming service had 42 million subscribers by late April 2021, according to new figures, though estimates suggest that most users aren't paying for it.

The streaming service officially launched to the public in July 2020 with a free ad-supported tier and a pair of paid options.

Less than a year later, Bloomberg reported Thursday that Peacock had garnered about 42 million new sign-ups by late April. About a third of those sign-ups, roughly 14 million users, are actively using the service each month.

It appears that fewer than those 14 million users actually pay for the service separately. According to Bloomberg, 80% of active Peacock users are on the free tier or have access to the streaming platform through a cable partner, meaning roughly 8.4 million customers are paying subscribers.

Peacock is banking on several strategies in an effort to entice more users into the paid tiers, including placing more high-profile content behind a paywall. The service will also use the Olympics as a way to lure more users to sign up for the service.

Peacock isn't the only streaming service that has seemingly struggled to win paid users. According to a January report, about 62% of Apple TV+ users are on a free trial and most don't plan to renew their subscription when it ends.

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9 Comments

coolfactor 20 Years · 2341 comments

About 3 years ago

I'm paying for Apple TV+, but Apple keeps giving the money back! :D

AniMill 4 Years · 193 comments

The streaming options are beginning to look like the old cable operations: by the time we have chosen all the streamers we want, it’ll cost just as much, if not more, than the cable packages.

I’m an AppleTV+ subscriber, and I’m very happy with it. It’s a slow burn of content development, but from what I’ve seen I’m really happy. But it is HBOMax that has stollen the show. Netflix has fallen waaaay off, and is beginning to look like it’s early days of B-movie offerings. I’m hoping the more The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel (so?) and shows like The Queen’s Gambit come on. As it is, Stranger Things 4 is all I’m looking toward.

I think Prime us headed the right direction. I’m a huge Jack Ryan fan.

CBS and NBC? Meh. I’m not going to signup for an Ad Supported tier, but they just don’t have anything I really care about. I’m Star Trek’ed out, and most Universal stuff is bland. If I want to watch the Olympics, OTS is just fine.

sdw2001 23 Years · 17460 comments

AniMill said:

The streaming options are beginning to look like the old cable operations: by the time we have chosen all the streamers we want, it’ll cost just as much, if not more, than the cable packages.

I’m an AppleTV+ subscriber, and I’m very happy with it. It’s a slow burn of content development, but from what I’ve seen I’m really happy. But it is HBOMax that has stollen the show. Netflix has fallen waaaay off, and is beginning to look like it’s early days of B-movie offerings. I’m hoping the more The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel (so?) and shows like The Queen’s Gambit come on. As it is, Stranger Things 4 is all I’m looking toward.

I think Prime us headed the right direction. I’m a huge Jack Ryan fan.

CBS and NBC? Meh. I’m not going to signup for an Ad Supported tier, but they just don’t have anything I really care about. I’m Star Trek’ed out, and most Universal stuff is bland. If I want to watch the Olympics, OTS is just fine.

Yeah I’m with you. I have Apple, Netflix, Prime, Disney+, HBO Max and YouTube TV. I haven’t paid for Apple, but will start soon. HBO is currently included with my AT&T plan. I’m still paying less than I was for FiOS TV. I’m a Star Trek fan, but I’m not doing Paramount+. For one thing, they don’t even have all the movies….and the original movies are not in 4K yet. I don’t care about Peacock, even for free.

mjtomlin 20 Years · 2690 comments

The streaming options are beginning to look like the old cable operations: by the time we have chosen all the streamers we want, it’ll cost just as much, if not more, than the cable packages.
Big difference is that you do not have stay subscribed to all of them at the same time. They’re all month-to-month subscriptions, so only sign up to a couple for a month or so and then switch them out. No reason to have the mall at the same time, unless you actually watch that much content!?
I’m signed up to tv+ (part of Apple One) and PBS ($4.99), and then switch out the others month to month.

Cable you’re paying a single subscription to a ton of content that you’d never watch.

chadbag 13 Years · 2029 comments

I missed the cancellation date so Apple ended up getting $5 from me for Apple TV+. For me personally it is a waste. I don’t think we have watched anything on it since the Tom Hanks war movie.

Just me personally, but I don’t have time to waste watching mindless entertainment when I could be making something, reading something, or figuring something out. Or watching history shows on YouTube. My Netflix is a t-mobile spiff, Amazon Prime Video is free with my paid expedited delivery subscription and Disney+ won’t be renewed.